Rebels Football:

Sanchez’s new approach will keep UNLV football active in off-season

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L.E. Baskow

UNLV football head coach Tony Sanchez has encouraging words for his players during the Spring Showcase, the last official gathering for the Rebels before August, on Saturday, April 18, 2015.

Wed, Apr 22, 2015 (2 a.m.)

Football Spring Showcase and Rummage Sale

UNLV football player Devonte Boyd (83) pulls in a touchdown pass over Charles Henry (34) during the Spring Showcase, the last official gathering for the Rebels and coach Tony Sanchez before August on Saturday, April 18, 2015. Launch slideshow »

Bobby Hauck’s record made UNLV easy to ignore during the season, but his recruiting philosophy made the Rebels a complete afterthought in the off-season.

Utilizing a plan favored by many an underdog, Hauck would wait until most of the recruiting decisions had been made and then do what he could with a group highlighted by guys either overlooked or ineligible to play right away at better programs.

Tony Sanchez favors a different approach, and it goes into full effect this week as UNLV’s coaching staff hits the road for the spring evaluation period.

“That’s our lifeblood,” Sanchez said of recruiting. “We’re being aggressive, we’re making early offers and we’re letting people know who we offer. We don’t care who we have to fight with; we’ll win some and we’ll lose some. We’re not going to hide behind the blankets anymore and go grab kids at the end.”

The Rebels already have two commits for the class of 2016, Bishop Gorman offensive linemen Jaron Caldwell and Julio Garcia. Their recruitment isn’t over — in football, keeping kids can be just as difficult as getting them to commit in the first place — but assuming they stick with UNLV it will be the most time before enrollment that anyone has committed to the program since at least 2004, the first year Rivals.com started tracking commitment dates.

Sanchez isn’t allowed to go on the road recruiting until the fall, but his staff already has boots on the ground in several states, stopwatches at the ready to find players who can compete right away. Because as much as Sanchez is willing to concede about how far UNLV has to go, he won’t sell his current seniors or fans on a five-year plan.

“I understand it but I don’t want to hear it,” he said. “As a head coach, that’s not what we want to do.”

So while building for the future is still the more realistic path in a rebuilding effort like this, Sanchez and his staff are preparing for an alternate reality in which plugging in as many true freshmen as it takes — his first class comes to campus July 13 and many will have large roles — pays off in the record books.

Next year it could be more of the same opportunities for early playing time as the Rebels work to build depth. And one of many UNLV goals is for those players currently being evaluated to come into a situation where the program better appreciates and creates a home-field advantage.

When the Rebels return for fall practice in August, a trip to Ely no longer awaits them. Sanchez got rid of the excursion north, preferring instead to test his team’s ability to endure the heat and potentially use it to his advantage against visiting opponents.

Part of the planned routine will be more practices in Sam Boyd Stadium, the Rebels’ home stadium in which they generally spent little time outside of gamedays. Sanchez hopes more visits will harbor more attachment between the players and the field they’re trying, and throughout its history mostly failing, to protect.

“That needs to be a place where they feel like 'This is our house,'" Sanchez said.

And it’s going to stay their house, at least for a while. Stadium talks, seemingly forever on the horizon, are currently tabled, and even at speeds not seen in matters involving this much money and politicking, a new one wouldn’t be ready for several years.

Perhaps a new stadium doesn’t sound all that interesting to a veteran who will never play in it, but it’s a universal truth that having a winning program to sell as a tenant doesn’t hurt in these matters. So whether he and his staff are selling a vision to the future Rebel or a legacy to the present one, Sanchez has an answer.

“Do they have a big say in whether it gets built?,” Sanchez said. “Hell, yeah, they do. Let’s go.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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